Leer-operating mechanism



L. I. PIERCE AND W.y FAII/IAHISS.

LEER OPERATING IVIECHANISIVI..

APPLICATION FILED 0C? ISI |920.

Patented @et LII, ILIIZL..

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L. J. PIERCE AND W. FAMARSS.

LEER OPERATING MECHANISWI.

APPLICATION FILED OCT Patented @et Mb, )1922.

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(D Q ma uMA/xm l EMV infor-Amp LI l. PIERCE AND W. EAMARISS.

LEER OPERATING MECHANISM.

AVPLICAHJN LILLE!) OCT It. W20.

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L. 1. MERCE AND vv'. FAMARTSS.

LEER OPERATING MECHANISM.

APPLTCATION FILED OCT 16y |920.

Patented Oct. T0, T7922,

l0 SHEETS -SHEET L. 1. PIERCE AND VV. FAIVIARISS.

LEER OPERATING MECHANISIVI.

APPLICATION FILED OCT,16,1920.

Patented @et W9 E922.

IO SHEETS-'SHEET 5.

LBLQD L. J. MERCE AND W. FAMAHISS.

LEER OPERATING MECH/mmm.

LICA`HON FILE) UCF lli4 11?'20, LCBLQ., Patented Oct. 10, 1922;,

l0 SHEE'S SHEET 6.

L. I. PIERCE AND W. FAIVIARISS.

LEER OPERATING MECHANISIVI.

APPLICATION FILED 0Cv16. 1920.

Patented UCI. IIL, 1922.

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L, I. PIERCE AND W. FAIVIARISS.

LEER OPERATING IVIECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED OCT i6, 1920.

Patented Oct. MI, 1922.

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LEER OPERATING IVIECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED 0C?. I6, 1920.

Patented (Ict. IIII, @22

l0 SHEETSMSHEET 9.

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Summa/Loza L. J. PIERCE AND W. FAIVIARISS.

LEER OPERATING MECHANISIVI.

APPLICATION man om 16.1920.

SL @ate-med Oct. M), 1922.

I0 SHEETS-SHEET 10.

Fatented @et ld, Wm,

LONNIE JV. FIJERGE AND WLTER FAMARISS, 0F PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.,

ASSIGNORS T0 AWHINJDOWT GLASS MAGCHJNE CMPANY, 0F PITTSBURGH, PENN-SYLVANJEA, A ORPORTIN F NEW JERSE LEER-OPERATING MECHANISM.

Application tiled October 16, 1920. -Serial Ito., ll'fltO.

T 0 all whomiz't may concern.

Be it known that we, LONNIE J. France and WALTER F AMAnIss, bothresiding at Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, have invented anew and useful llmprovement in Leer-perating Mechanisms, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, inwhichl Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of a glass-flatteningoven and annealing leer having our invention applied thereto;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of a portion of the rear or delivery end ofthe leer, a portion of the wall being broken away `and in section;

Figure 3 is a rear elevation ot the leer and actuating mechanism;

Figure 4 is a partial longitudinal vertical section of a portion of theleer;

Figure 5"isa partial transverse vertical section of a portion of thesame;

Figure 6` is an end View showing the actuating gearing;

Figure 7 is a side View of the same;

Figure 8 is a detail face view of the cam and plunger actuated thereby;

Figures 9, 10 and 11 are detail views of the timing mechanism;

. Figure 12 is a plan View partly broken away of the traveling leer rodsand their actuating connections;

Figure 13 isa longitudinal vertical section of theyrear or deliveryportion oli the leer showing` a modification;

Figure 14 is a rear elevation ot the leer and mechanism shown in Figure13; and

Figure 15 is a wiring diagram showing the electrical connections for theactuating motor. o

'Uur invention has relation to a device lor mechanically operatingleers, and is applicable to any` leer which employs a series oflongitudinally movable rods, termed traveling rods, and also a series ofvertically movable rods, termed lifting rods. Theobject of our inventionis to provide ymeans of simple, convenient and effective character"which will greatly reduce the .movable or lifting rods brackets 20,upon -the leer are a rod or pipe 22. 23`is a shalt extending labor ofleer operations by enabling the same to be performed to a large extentmechanically and by the simple control of a motor known character havingtherein the usual' flattening table 3, arranged to be rotated by thegear, indicated at 4. 5 designates an annealing leer communicating withthe {lattening oven and receiving the flattened sheets ot' glasstherefrom.

rlhe numeral 10 designates the traveling leer bars which are supportedin the leer 5 on antitriction rollers 11, said rollers be ing placed atsuitable intervals apart and being supported in the housings 12. A pairot' channels 13 support the housings and rollers within the leer, thechannels being seated in the side walls of the leer suitable distancesapart, and each pair of channels supporting as many rollers as there aretraveling leer bars 10, side by side, within the leer. The bars 10 aresecured at their outer or delivery ends by a transverse bar 1t, by meansof which all the rods maybe moved in unison.

v'lihe numeral 17 designates thel verticallywhich are supported on thebars 15, and chairs 16, as is best shown infFigure 5. ,'lihe bars 15 aresupported at their ends by the depending rods 18, whose upper ends arehung tothe arms of bell crank levers 19. These bell crank levers arepivotally the pins or bolts 21. rlihe several bell crank levers 19 ateach side of connected together by means ot supported withintransversely across the leer and to which are secured the bell cranks19d and 19", to whichthe pipes 22 are also connected, so that by rockingthe shaft 23, all the bell cranks on both sides of the leer will beoperated in unison and the bars 15 will be raised or lowered to raise orlower the vertically movable 'bars 17.

The leer with its two sets of bars is designed to move any product to beannealed, in the present instance, sheets of glass, from the oven 2,step by step, to the rear end of the leer. This is accomplished in thefollowing manner:

A sheet of glass is placed upon the portions 10a of the rods or bars 10,which extend within the flattening oven. The bars 10 are then moved asuitable distance rearwardly so as to bring the sheet of glass'over theends of the lifting bars 17. The shaft 23 is then rocked, causing thelifting bars 17 to lift the sheet of glass from the bars 10. lVhile thesheet is so lifted, the bars 10 are moved backwardly in the oppositedirection to their original position within the oven 2. The shaft 23 isagain rocked in the opposite direction so as to lower the bars 17,and'in their downward movement these bars leave the glass sheet upon thebars 10, but in an advanced position within the leer. These operationsare repeated until the sheet of glass has been advanced to the rear endof the leer, with other glass sheets lying at regular intervals `uponthe rods 10 within the leer. lYhen the rods 10 are next moved out, asheet of glass-is brought out of the leer and may be removed. Successiveoperations of the leer will continue to deliver glass sheets in aposition for removal.

As thus far described, the construction and arrangement of the partsdoes not differ essentially from that which has heretofore beenemployed. t has been the practice, however, in so far as we are aware,to actuate the two sets of bars manually. Our invention is designed torender the operation largely mechanical and automatic. -This isaccomplished by the means now to be described. c

Referring more particularly to Figures 2, 3, 6 and 7 of the drawings, 26designates suitable housings secured to a bed plate 27, which, in turn,is secured to a suitable foundation 28, located in a convenient positionrelative to the leer. 29 and 30 designate two shafts, one above theother, which are mounted in suitable bearings in the housings 26. 31 isan electri cally driven motor whose armature shaft carries a lworm 32,which meshes with the worm wheel 33, keyed to the shaft 29. The' to theshaft 30. 37 is a cam also keyed to the shaft 30, and which is designedto raise and lower a vertically movable plunger rod 38, the latterhaving a roller 39, which extends within the cam groove 40 of said cam(see also Figure 8).

The plunger 38 has therein the guide slots 45 and 46, through which theshafts 29 and 30, respectively, extend and which act to guide said rodin its vertical movement. A collar 47, keyed to the shaft 30, acts toprevent lateral movement of said rod. The upper end of this rod isconnected to a pin 41, at the end of a rocker arm 42, which is, in turn,ke ed at one end of the rocker shaft 23. l hen the plunger rod isreciprocated by the groove 40 of cam 37, it causes the rocker arm 42 tomove up and down, thereby operating the rocker shaft 23, and through.the mechanism previouslydcscribed, to raise and lower all of thevertically movable leer rods 17. Mounted upon the lower end portion ofthe plunger rod 3S are two rollers 43, which support the flanges 44 of arack frame 48. This rack frame carries the upper and lower rack bars 49,which are designed to engage the teeth of the gear wheel 35 in such amanner that when the upper rack bar is in engagement with ear wheel 35,the rack frame will be move( in one direction, and when the lower rackbar is in engagement with said gear wheel, the rack frame will be movedin the opposite direction. Connected to the rack frame is a rearwardlyextending arm 50, which is drilled to receive a stud 51, secured to arocking leyer 52. This lever is, in turn` keyed to a rocker shaft 53,mounted in suitable bearings 54, secured to the piers 55, lo-

cated at each side andy near the back end of the leer. The shaft 53passes under the leer and extends beyond its opposite side wall. as bestshown in Figure 3, its opposite end portion having a second rockinglever 52, keyed` thereto, and arranged in alignment with the lever 52.The free ends of these rocking levers are connected by pivots or studs62 to the 'end portions of pitman rods 63. These pitman rods, togetherwith the levers 52 and 52, are provided with a plu rality of holes 61,for the stud or pivot 62,

these holes being for the purpose of providing adjustment to allow forvariation ir length of movement of the pitman 63. The outer ends of thepitman 63 are pivotall)Y connected to the ends of a bar or shaft 57.which is secured to the bar 14. (see Fig. 12). This bar 57 extendsbeyond both side walls of the leer to allow of its connection with a rodG3, which is held in place by means of the two collars 58.

The rocking levers 52 and 52u are provided with extending arms 59, towhich are adjustably fastened counter-weights G0.

meines lli`he motor is shown as having a thrust bearing 65, locatedbetween the motor bearing' 66 and the worm 32, (see Figure 6).

A similar thrust bearing 67 is adjustably mounted in the bracket 68,which is secured to one of the housings 26, this thrust bearing beingarranged to receive any thrust against the end of the shaft. T he twothrust bearings act to take up the thrust in both directions and thuspreserve the proper alignment of the worm 32.

The motor 31 is electrically controlled by means of suitable switchesand cut-outs as now to be described, and which are illustrateddiagrammatically in Figure 15. rlhe power circuit for the motor iscontrolled from the mains 70, through the fused, double-pole,single-throw switch 71. @ne side of the line is lfed to thei controllingor starting switches 72 and 73, which may be of any suitable type ofsinglepole normally 4 hand contact 78 to the armature and ifieldA dillopen switch. 'lihese switches 72 and 73 a re arranged in parallel withthe starting circuit, so that either switch may be used for the purposeof starting the motor 3l.V From the switches 72 and 73, the currentpasses over the conductor 74, through the solenoid magnet 76, of acontroller 75. When this magnet is energized, its plunger 77 is causedto rise, and thereby close the circuit at the contacts 78. `When thesecontacts are closed, the circuit is completed through the right of themotor, and a magnetic circuit is completed and maintained through thecoils of the magnet through the left hand contact and through a normallyclosed cutout switch 80. A suitable ohmic resistance 81 is shown inseriesl with the motor armature winding.

The cut-out may be of any suitable type ot normally closed switch,arranged to be onerated by a movable operating arm. lt isillustrated inFigures 6 and 7 as being supported on an angle bracket 82, which isbolted to the opposite face of one of the housings 26. This anglebracket is provided with slots 83, to receive clamping bolts 84, andthus allow for up and down adjustment of the cutout switch 80 and itsoperating arm 85, which projects out of the switch box and is providedat its outer end with t-he roller 86.

The numeral 87 designates a switch-operating arm (see Figures 2, 3, 6, 7and 9) which is adjustably secured at the outer end portion of the shaft30, and is so positioned that the studs 88 located upon the two membersof the arm will pass over, and in their movement come in contact with,the roller- 86, and thereby act to open the switch contacts of theswitch 80. rllhe shaft 30 is provided with a supporting head 89 (shownin detail in Figures 10 and 11) for the arm 87.

v95 see Figure ll, which is located in a convement position 1n front ofthe flattening oven, and through a chain or other suitable connection,actuates the switch 72,'to close its contacts. lrlihis closes thecircuit through the magnet 76 of the controller 75, which in turn,closes the contacts at 78, thus completing the circuit through the motorarmature and field and maintaining the circuit through the cut-outswitch 80 and the coil 76. The motor 3l will then start and continue tooperate, and the contacts at 78 will' remain closed. At this time, theupper rack bar 49 will be in engagement with the gear wheel 35 and therack will be moved out until its teeth have all passed over said gearwheel. The rack frame will then come to rest and the traveling leer.bars will be moved outwardly through the medium of levers- 52, v52,rocker shaft 53, and connecting rods 63. The switch-operating arm 87 is'so adjusted that at this time one of the studs 88 will come in contactwith roller 86 ot the cut-out switch 80, and thereby momentaril breakthe circuit through the magnet 76, al owing the plunger 77 to drop,opening the contacts at 78, and 'thus openw ing the motorcircuit andcausing the motor to come to rest. The 4operating levers and cut-outshould beso adjusted that the natural dritt of the motor and operatedmechanism will allow the stud 88 to pass over and free from the roller86, allowing the contacts of cut-out switch 80 to close. thus permittingthe motor to be'started again upon the closing ot either of the switches72 or 73. lf. by reason of improper adjustment, the

switch 8O should not be closed in this manner before the motor'comes torest, the oper.- atlng switch 72 or 73 must be held closed unt-il thearm 87 drifts past the roller of sheet from the bars and then operatesthe handle 97 (Figure 15) which ,operates through the cord or chain 98to close the switch 73. The motor then starts vto operate as before, atwhich time the` cam 37 is in rau rtl:

position to operate .the cam roller 39, to cause the plunger rod 38 torise, whereby, through the connections previously described, the liftingbars 17 will be operated to lift all the glass off from the travelingbars 10. As the plunger rod 38 nears the end of its upward movement, itlifts the lower rack 49 into engagement with the lower face of the gearwheel 35, so that the rack frame will be moved in a direction oppositeto that previously described, causing the leer bars 10 to be moved backinto the leer and their forward end portions 10L to be again extendedwithin the flattening oven in position to again receive a sheet of glassfrom the flattening stone. The mechanism continues in motion and as soonas 'the teeth of the lower rack pass out of engagement with the gear 35,the rack frame comes to rest. At the same time, the cam groove of cam 37comes into such `position that its subsequent motion'causes the plungerrod 38 to move downwardly, thereby lowering the vertically movable leerbars 17 to deliver the lass upon the bars 10. The bars 17 nal y come torest with their upper surfaces a suitable distance below the uppersurface of the bars 10. At the same time, the rack frame is lowered,being carried on the rollers 43, until the upper rack bar 49 comes intoengagement with the teeth of,

gear 35. At this time, the stud 88 on the other arm of the lever 87strikes the roller 86 of the cut-out switch 8O and the whole machinecomes to rest. The operation may then be repeated in the manner abovedescribed, as desired.

The counterweight of the levers 52 and 52a are'for the purpose ofsteadying the motion of the machine against any sudden jars incident tothe starting of the motor and the traveling leer bars, and to overcomethe inertia of Said bars in bringing them to rest at the ends of theirmovements.

The bell crank levers 19 are preferably provided with counterweights 99,in order to properly balance the vertically movable leer rods.

In Figures 13 and 14, I have shown a modified form of mechanism foroperating the traveling leer bars. This modification is designed moreparticularly for use with leers which are so constructed that it wouldbe inconvenient to pass the shaft 53 through and under the leer toreceive a rocking lever, vsuch as the lever 52 at the opposite .side

thereof This condition often occurs, being` due to the fact that theleers are either so close together that there is not sufficient searating space for such equipment or w 1ere there is a party wall commonto two leers built side by side as a unit.

In the construction shown in Figures 13 and 147 the shaft 53a is a shortshaft carrying the single rocking lever 52C. But one connecting rod 63ais. employed, which is connected to the bar 57, and furnishes power formoving the traveling leer bars 10b and operating from one side of theleer only. For the purpose of equalizing the pull on all the bars 10b,we provide a pair of stationary rack bars suitably supported at the rearend of the leer. To the under face of the two outside leer bals 10b areattached rack bars 101. A floating shaft 102 having pinions 103 keyedthereto at each end thereof are so arranged that each pinion is in meshwith the stationary rack bar 100 and also with one of the rack bars 101.Each pinion 103 is shown as having aguiding fiange 104 on the outsidethereof, for the purpose of limiting the said shaft against lateralmovement.

In its operation, the rocking lever 52 is operated in the manner beforedescribed, to

move the bar 57 and leer bars 10b. The rack bars 101 1n their motioncanse the pmions 103 to rotate m the teeth of: mdr

bars 100, and thereby furnish power to move the rack bars 101 in meshtherewith. Mounted upon the shaft 102 are suitable supporting rollers105 having grooves for supporting the intermediate bars 10, said rollersbeing spaced apart by spacing pipes or sleeves 106. It will be notedthat the floating shaft 102 and its pinions travel only half thedistance that it is required to move the traveling leer bars. This cutsdown the length of the racks 101, and provides a construction whichcauses a minimum interference of the parts, while permitting the leerbars to be supported at short intervals.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that our invention greatlyreduces the manual labor required in the operation of leers.

It will be obvious that many mechanical changes may be made in theconstruction and arrangement of the various parts and that various formsof motor devices may be used within the spirit and scope of our broaderclaims.

IVe claim:

1. In leer-operating mechanism, the combination with aset of travelingleer rods and a set of lifting leer rods. of a single motive means, andactuating connections between the motive means and the two sets of rodsfor mechanically operating said rods in alternate timed relation to eachother` substantially as described.

2. In leer-operating mechanism, the combination with a set of travelingleer rods and a set of lifting leer rods, of a single motive means, andactuating connections be tween the motive means and the two sets of rodsfor mechanically operating'said rods in alternate timed relation to eachother,

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A connections means, and means for renderingthe motive Lasneea vtheactuating connections for the traveling rods including amotion-reversing device, substantially as described.

3. lln leer-operating mechanism, the combination with a set of travelingleer rods and a set of lifting leer rods, bf motive means, and actuatingconnections between the motive means and the two sets of rods formechanically operating said rods in alternate timed relation to eachother, said connections having means for automatically rendering themotive means inoperative at predetermined times, substantially, asdescribed. y

4. In leer-operatin mechanism, the combination with a set o travelingleer rods, of a motive device, actuating connections be tween saiddevice and the said rods, said including motion reversing deviceinoperative after certain predetermined movements of said connections,substantial] as described.

5. lin eer-operating mechanism, the combination with a set of liftingrods, of a motive device, connections between said device and the saidrods for periodically op-` erating the same, and means operated by saidconnections for vrendering the motive device inoperative afterpredetermined movements of said connections, substantially as described.y

6. ln l'eeroperating mechanism, the comi. bination'with a set oftraveling leer rods and a set of lifting leer rods, of a motive device,actuating connections between said device and the lifting rods, otheractuating connections between said devicel and the traveling rods, thelatter connections including a motion-reversing ineans, and ay cutoutdevice for the motive` means arranged to be operated at predeterminedtimes by the movement of said connections, substantially as described.

7. lin leer-operating mechanism, 'the combination with `a set oftraveling leer rods and a set of vertically moving leer rods, of anelectric motor, gearing driven by said motor, a plunger member actuatedby said gearing and havin actuating connections with the lifting ro s,and other actuating connections between the motor and the travelingrods, the said connections including a motion-reversing device operatedby the movement of said plunger member, substantially as described. f ul,

8. lln leer-operating mechanism, the combinaticn with a set of travelingleerrods and a set of vertically moving leer rods, of an electric motor,gearing driven by said motor, a plunger member actuated by said gearingand having actuating connections with the lifting rods, and otheractuating connections between the motor and the traveling rods, the saidconnections including a motion-reversin device operated by the movementof said plunger member, together with a cut-out device for interruptingthe circuit of said motor and actuated by said gearing, substantially asdescribed.

9. lln leer-operating mechanism, the combination with a set of liftingrods, of a motor, gearing driven thereby, a cam driven by said,gea-ring, and a plunger member actuated by the cam and operativelyconnected wlth the lifting rods, substantially as described.

l0. In leer-operating mechanism, the combination with a set of travelingleer rods, of a motor, gearing driven thereby, a shiftable rack framearranged to be engaged by said earing,and means actuated by the gearingo r shifting said frame, substantially as described.

11. ln leer-operating mechanism, thecombination with a set of travelingleer rods, of a motor, gearing driven thereby, a shiftable rack framearranged to be engaged by said gearing, and means actuated by thegearing for shifting said frame, together with means actuated by saidgearing for controlling the operation of said motor, substantially asdescribed.

12. lin leer-operating mech'anism,the combination with a set oftraveling leer rods and a set of `lifting leer rods, of ,motive means,`and actuating connections between the motive means and the two sets ofrods for' automatically o erating said rods in alternate timed relationto each other, substantially ask described.

13. lln leer-operating mechanism, the comv ln testimony whereof, we havehereunto set our hands.

routine J. Pinnen. warren Fantaisies.

